"The view which defines liberty as the mere 'absence of restraint' may be well-meaning, but this is the best one can say about it. It is a definition which permits, and even encourages, the substance of liberty to leak away. It undermines the sanctity of the person and property, it ignores the moral order, and it undermines the system of contracts. The truly free man is not a captive of his impulses; he controls his own actions so as not to impair the equal rights of others to their persons and their property; he is constrained by moral considerations; and he is meticulous about his contractual obligations. Such a pattern of conduct is not accurately described by the simple label, 'unrestrained'."
-- Edmund A. Opitz, Essays on Liberty 10:423
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"How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words!"
-- Samuel Adams
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(Via Cousin Bill)
“The power under the Constitution will always be in the people. It is entrusted for certain defined purposes, and for a certain limited period, to representatives of their own choosing, and whenever it is executed contrary to their interest, or not agreeable to their wishes, their servants can, and undoubtedly will, be recalled.”
--George Washington-1787
The Writings of George Washington, by John C. Fitzpatrick, GPO, 1933-44. Vol. 32:2.)
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"The view which defines liberty as the mere 'absence of restraint' may be well-meaning, but this is the best one can say about it. It is a definition which permits, and even encourages, the substance of liberty to leak away. It undermines the sanctity of the person and property, it ignores the moral order, and it undermines the system of contracts. The truly free man is not a captive of his impulses; he controls his own actions so as not to impair the equal rights of others to their persons and their property; he is constrained by moral considerations; and he is meticulous about his contractual obligations. Such a pattern of conduct is not accurately described by the simple label, 'unrestrained'."
-- Edmund A. Opitz, Essays on Liberty 10:423
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"When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that justifies it."
--Frederic Bastiat
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(View From The Porch. BT)
"Asking liberals where wages and prices come from is like asking six-year-olds where babies come from."
-– Thomas Sowell
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